EHR STEM Workforce Development CoreFuture Directions for EHR’s Investments

EHR STEM Workforce Development Subcommittee

January 7, 2014

General Recommendation

• We recommend the development of a cohesive framework to align NSF investments in research and training with the national need for a workforce prepared to meet current and future STEM needs in the private and public sectors, the K-12 teaching core, and the university professorate.

• This challenge occurs against a backdrop of multi-national labor markets, changing US demographics, unpredictable immigration patterns, changes in the nature of work itself as well as national and international business models.

Individual Recommendations

1. Align investments in K-16 education with changing STEM workforce needs and demands. This implies having a firm grasp of what those needs and demands are.

2. Align the investments of EHR and other Directorates to support research and development to model and impact the dynamic and emerging STEM workforce. The word “model,” in this sense, will require substantial knowledge building.

3. Build NSF-university-industry partnerships to leverage investments in research, development and training for the STEM workforce with an emphasis on personalized learning.

Build knowledge and capacity within NSF and in the field to align investments in K-16 education with changing

STEM workforce needs and demands

• Fund research to identify foundational competencies and learning sequences that underlie critical and innovative thinking in STEM-based fields. . . and the soft skills necessary for success in the knowledge economy, e.g.:– What does it mean to train STEM and STEM-literate K-12 teachers

to prepare students for the future workforce?• What are the implications of the Common Core State Standards? • What are the potential uses of new assessments (SBAC, PARC) in

evaluating student learning in STEM?

– What are the job-relevant curricula and opportunities available for experiential learning at the community college, undergraduate and graduate levels?

– how should professional development in data analysis be designed and implemented?

Align the investments of EHR and other Directorates to support research and development to model and impact the

dynamic and emerging STEM workforce

1. EHR should build on innovations in other Directorates to fund cutting-edge research to establish national leadership in workforce education

2. EHR should create tools to determine what is known, and what needs to be learned, to model future workforce development

3. NSF should create a portfolio of case studies to build organizational capacity for fund educational activities on workforce development

4. EHR should support proven programs for replication, sustained implementation or scaling

5. EHR should develop and communicate effective and innovative approaches for outcome metrics in workforce development

6. EHR should connect programs more tightly to workforce needs and training (including ITEST and ATE)

Build NSF-university-industry partnerships to leverage investments in research, development and training for the STEM workforce with an

emphasis on personalized learning and broader participation

1. EHR should synthesize a number of sources – including researchers and employers – to identify foundational STEM competencies and soft skills

2. EHR should also identify essential organization theory to impact best practices for STEM workforce development

3. EHR should draw upon the recent NSF/IES research and evidence guidelines to funding and evaluating research on workforce development

4. EHR should support a research agenda on personalized learning for transitions from college to the workforce, and between STEM-related jobs

5. EHR should consider industry/governmental partners for proposals to expand funding for new programs to address workforce needs

6. Design search and access tools that allow different stakeholders to explore aspects of effective workforce-related programs

7. NSF should draw on these analyses to guide the writing of new program announcements